Introducing Behind the Academic Veil
In this episode, Joy Francis interviews the founder Anna Jieman. They discuss what inspired Anna to become an academic and why, as a Black female and budding anti-racism researcher, it is important to have boundaries and access to mental health support to initiate and sustain her projects and research.
Podcast Guests
Joy Francis, FRSL
Joy is co-founder and executive director of Words of Colour, co-founder of Digital Women UK and co-founder of the award-winning Synergi Collaborative Centre. The self-described ‘constructive disruptor’ and ‘creative entrepreneur’ is a longstanding activist for racial equality and cultural inclusion in the media, publishing, creative industries and mental health. With Melba Wilson she co-authored the UK’s first survey on ethnic minority service users for Mind in 1997 and has worked on national mental health campaigns and policy initiatives, including the David ‘Rocky’ Bennett Inquiry and Delivering Race Equality.
Joy has also developed media and public engagement campaigns targeting African and Caribbean communities for Time to Change. She collaborated with the Media Diversity Institute to launch the UK’s first Diversity and the Media MA at the University of Westminster in 2012, and was appointed as the media liaison lead for the Hillsborough Inquests by leading civil rights law firm Birnberg Peirce.
In 2019, Joy was selected for the UK’s first Museum of Colour’s People of Letters Digital Gallery as a literature influencer. In 2022, she was a Judge for the British Book Awards and was elected to the Royal Society of Literature as an Honorary Fellow for services to literature and inclusion.
You can find out more via wordsofcolour.co.uk.
Anna-Theresa Jieman
Anna-Theresa Jieman, an ESRC LISS DTP and NIHR ARC North Thames PhD candidate in Psychology at the Queen Mary University of London, founded the project. She holds a BSc (Hons) in Psychology and a Master’s in Social Research Methods.
Anna is interested in cultural, racial, and ethnic differences in experiences of common mental disorders among Black women and how these are considered in developing policy and practice. She has a strong background in qualitative and quantitative systematic reviews, primary qualitative research, stakeholder engagement, and co-production of knowledge.
Through her PhD project, she found that she needed more opportunities and resources to spend time with community collaborators and peer researchers to reflect on experiences of working together (i.e., discussions about the relationship/process, power dynamics, reciprocity). Therefore, she wanted to provide a platform to engage and connect all the individuals (researchers across all levels, peer researchers, community members and community engagement officers) involved in the research process.
